1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a device for picking up round balls and more particularly to a tennis ball vacuum collector which increases the speed of picking up numerous tennis balls on a tennis court.
2. Description of Related Art
When a tennis player is receiving a lesson, an instructor will serve the tennis balls to the student, or a tennis player will practice with the aid of an automated tennis ball serving machine. In both cases many balls are distributed on a tennis court. Picking up tennis balls or even baseballs is not a desirable activity because of resulting back aches, and it is just not fun. Tennis ball retrieving devices of the prior art tend to be slower or not efficient in rounding up dispersed tennis balls. Also, certain devices become heavy, particularly hand held basket type devices as they become filled with tennis balls. Other devices of the prior and are as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,336 issued Jan. 11, 1977 to Dennis Beaver et al. discloses a table tennis training device for use with a table tennis table and includes a tennis ball catcher having a pocket for collecting the table tennis ball which is then, due to a suction effect, moved from the pocket into a gun to shoot out to a player who is practicing. However, the device is not designed for picking up a plurality of balls on the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,037 issued May 3, 1977 to Phillip A. Torbet discloses a tennis practice machine for collecting a projectile such as a tennis ball and launching it through the air whereby a single tennis ball can be kept in continuous operation by the machine to provide uninterrupted practice for a player.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,100 issued Sep. 15, 1992 to Edward B. Frankel discloses a ball retrieval device having a main body and a basket for storing retrieved balls. A pair of arms is attached to the main body for funneling balls into the main body, and the balls enter a conveyor mechanism opening and are transported up to a basket. However, the ball retrieval device does not have a vacuum suction means for rapidly drawing balls into the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,242 issued Apr. 18, 1995 to Kurt G. Beranek discloses a tennis ball retriever having a handle and a collection drum rotatably journalized on the handle. The cylindrical drum has a plurality of axially spaced circumferential tines. Loose tennis balls are grasped by abrasive surfaces of the spaced-apart cylindrical tines and urged into the interior of the collection drum having a hinged door. However, it does not disclose retrieving balls by a vacuum suction device.